


Take a Breath, For I Cannot

by Selene467



Series: Padawan Perils [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Apprentice Series - Jude Watson & Dave Wolverton
Genre: Angst, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 00:37:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8423908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selene467/pseuds/Selene467
Summary: A succesful mission ends in disaster as Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon's transport gets severely damaged during their return trip to the Temple. Adrift with no means to call for aid they can only wait for their presence to be missed, but one of them might not have enough time.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short story with short chapters as I try to take advantage of my muse crawling out of her hiding spot. Writing is still difficult for me at the moment and I'm recently inspired for Star Wars. this is an attempt to keep that inspiration going.

Qui-Gon smiled when his padawan's exuberant presence drifted past him. Obi-Wan was never one for calm and patience, though that was something they were working on. Whereas the master could go for hours into deep meditation, his eager padawan was more for active, physical training. As was the case right now.  
  
As Qui-Gon sat peacefully among the plantlife of the Jedi Temple's Garden, Obi-Wan was practicing a difficult kata around his master ,the extra challenge of trying not to disturb his master to help him focus. Qui-Gon could ignore the most obnoxious of people if he so desired ,but there was something about Obi-Wan that always drew his attention. Thus even now he found himself focussing more on Obi-Wan's energy as the young boy tried to perform the kata to perfection, rather than meditating as he had originally intended to do.  
  
A quiet huff passed Qui-Gon's ears before a soft thud alerted him to Obi-Wan sitting down. The emotional energy surrounding his padawan was filled with frustration and disappointment. What Obi-Wan lacked in patience and control, he made up with determination and a sense of rightfullness not often seen in one so young. However, even Obi-Wan had his limits and right now he was beating himself up for failing, again.  
  
"Failure is not always a bad thing, Obi-Wan."  
  
His padawan turned to him, Qui-Gon could sense it. Finally deciding to give up the allusion of reaching a meditative state when his mind was clearly focussed on his padawan, the seasoned master opened his eyes and watched his padawans' stormy grey one's staring right back at him.  
  
"I'm sorry, master. If did not mean to disturb your meditation." Those frustrated grey eyes turned down and tugged Qui-Gon's heart with it. He hated seeing Obi-Wan unhappy, this child who had come to mean so much to him. Who'd shown him so much. Who'd saved him from himself.  
  
"You have nothing to apologize for, padawan. You are still learning and sometimes,- " The Jedi master lifted the boy's chin so he could make sure his message came across. " -sometimes, we need to fail in order to succeed. Steady your mind, close your eyes and observe your own actions as if you were standing beside yourself. Find where you went wrong."  
  
Obi-Wan did as he was told and Qui-Gon waited patiently for Obi-Wan to find where he'd gone wrong. When he did, his eyes shot open wide and a smile lit his face when he realized he knew how to do it now. Qui-Gon smiled back at his eager padawan as he jumped up and began anew, this time finishing the kata with minimal difficulty. And his ever mysterious  eyes shining in a mixture of green and blue once more.

* * *

Qui-Gon awoke with a gasp that immediately sent him into a coughing fit. The air was filled with smoke and heat surrounding him, almost to the point of suffocatingly hot. As he sruggled for a proper breath, Qui-Gon squeezed open his eyes ignoring the sharp pain that sent through his head. His vision was blurry and filled with a red flickering. He tried to move but his arms felt heavy and his head hurt too much to turn. So the Jedi Master lay still for a little while as he tried to get his bearings.  
  
It wasn't long before his could properly open his eyes despite the pain and took note of what the red flickering was at the same time that sound returned to his ears again. Alarms were going off all around him and from the damage around him it wasn't hard to figure out why. Systems were offline or badly damaged, wires crawled out of nearly every panel as was a good deal of smoke. In the corner one panel was actually still burning.  
  
Qui-Gon forced himself up and reached over for the pilot who lay slummed over his consoles. As his body fell back into his chair, the pilot's head lolled to the side and Qui-Gon saw the faded, dull eyes. He was dead.  
  
Qui-Gon closed the pilot's eyes then quickly scanned the rest of the cockpit. No one else was in here. Obi-Wan wasn't in here! Trying not to panic, he opened his end of their training bond and called out to his padawan.  
  
//Obi-Wan!? Padawan?! Answer me, Obi-Wan!//  
  
Only silence followed. He could still detect an almost quiet buzz in his mind indicating that his padawan was very much alive. As for why he wasn't answering, it was a likely possibility that he was unconscious.  Qui-Gon tried to remember what had happened, where his padawan had been before their transport sustained damage, but his memory was uncooperative.  
  
"Alright then. Let's see what we've got to work with here." Gently moving past the pilot's chair, Qui-Gon accessed what little of the transport's systems still worked. They still had life support, though not everywhere. The chockpit was still supported as were the bunks and a few hallways connecting the two. Communications were fried as was navigation.  
  
They could breath but there was no getting out of here nor calling for help.  
  
//Obi-Wan, please respond.//  
  
It was futile and yet Qui-Gon couldn't help calling out for his padawan. Worry was gnawing at his very soul and not knowing where his padawan was, would not alleviate that feeling. For all he knew, Obi-Wan could have been blown out of the ship through a hull breach before the emergency system kicked in with force fields.  
  
The very real possibility nearly made him sick. He quickly checked the barely functioning system once more to see where most of the damage was. His heart nearly stopped when he did detect several hull breaches, currently sealed of by the emergency system.  
  
_Think you must. Alive he is, sensed it you did! Alive in space he cannot be!_  
  
Master Yoda's voice in his head snapped him out of his panic. Of course! He'd sensed Obi-Wan through their bond. That very bond wouldn't even exist had Obi-Wan truly been sucked out of the ship. Qui-Gon quietly berated himself for losing his head in a crisis before concentrating all he had on his connection to Obi-Wan.  
  
_Where are you?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Qui-Gon finds Obi-Wan but it doesn't make him feel better by much.

Obi-Wan opened his eyes to an empty room. The lights had been turned off giving the room an eery feel with the only source of light coming from the city and vehicles passing by his and Qui-Gon's quarters. "Master!?" Obi-Wan stood up from his meditative pose and walked through the quarters looking in his own room and Qui-Gon's but not finding his master in either place. "Master?!" Silence followed his second call too. Surely Qui-Gon wouldn't be testing him like this? To find his master when he inexplicably disappeared?

Believing it worth a shot, Obi-Wan centered himself in the Force, concentrating on his training bond with his master. //Master? Are you there? Master, where are you?//

Frustration bubbled inside him but the young padawan pushed it down. Frustration wasn't going to help him find his master. Obi-Wan stared at the city outside the window, moving on as if nothing terrible was happening at all. His master never ignored his calls through the bond nor had Obi-Wan sensed any obstruction on Qui-Gon's end. The connection was wide open but his master either didn't hear him or didn't respond for whatever reason.

Obi-Wan tried to fight the fear but it was impossible. His master was missing and not responding to him. He was alone.

_Never alone you are. Always present the Force is._

Of course! Someone in the Temple should be able to help him. Mind made up, Obi-Wan ran out the door and instantly stopped. The corridor was utterly destroyed. Scorch marks on the walls and floor, a fire raged at the end of the corridor and debris blocked the other side. Smoke filled the air making breathing terribly difficult. Already Obi-Wan was coughing heavily and his head hurt like a bantha had run him over. His vision became blurry and he sank on his knees struggling to catch a breath, but it was like there wasn't enough oxygen in the corridor.

//Master!? Please help me. Where are you?// Obi-Wan crawled forward on his knees trying desperately to find some place where the smoke was thinner. //Master,  I need help. Please!// No one was coming for him. He was going to die here. Collapsing against the wall, Obi-Wan let his mind drift to better times, the lack of oxygen making him drowsy.  
  
"Master, help_ me".

* * *

 

Qui-Gon jumped back as the comm system violently sparked, hitting his head against the bulkhead behind him. Rubbing the sore spot and cursing violently he nearly missed the call through the training bond. //Master? Are you there?//

/Obi-Wan!//

//Master, where are you?//

/Obi-Wan, I'm here. Padawan!/

No response came to his frantic calls through the training bond. It was like a one-way comm. He could hear Obi-Wan, but the boy couldn't hear him. Ignoring the still gently sparking comm system, Qui-Gon turned his attention to the scanning system. Perhaps if he could fix that, he could pinpoint Obi-Wan's location on the transport. It wasn't an overly large transport and the handful of hullbreaches limited the places his padawan could be, but he still needed to narrow it down and with the many obstruction throughout the ship he might not be able to get everywhere. Knowing his padawan's location would greatly help him distribute the remaining power efficiently and it would settle the unrest in his heart.

Qui-Gon was almost ready to scan for Obi-Wan, the system thankfully not nearly as damaged as the others, when Obi-Wan called through the bond again. // Master?!// Obi-Wan's mental voice sounded distressed, almost panicked and it tore at Qui-Gon's calm. //Please help me. Where are you?// As much as he wanted to reach out and comfort his padawan, he couldn't. He was forced to keep working with his padawan's frantic calls ringing in his head.

"Yes!" Qui-Gon scrambled to the other side of the cockpit. Not only had he managed to fix the scanner, at least for scanning the interior of the ship, he also managed to power the viewscreens throughout the ship. The scanner beeped behind him indicating that it had located another life form on board. Qui-Gon quickly turned on the viewscreen in the cargo hold where apparently his padawan was located and a place of destruction became visible.

The cargo hold was utterly thrashed. Fire still blazed in several corners, wires were tangled up with the cargo, system sparked violently, but the most terrifying visual was the huge gaping hole in the outer wall of the ship. A blue forcefield shimmered across the hole, keeping his padawan from being sucked into space.

//Master, I need help. Please!//

Qui-Gon turned the camera around to find his padawan and find him he did. Obi-Wan was on the ground behind some crates and he was clearly unconscious. No wonder he couldn't hear his responses. The boy was stuck in some sort of dream unknowingly calling out in reality to Qui-Gon. From the terrible quality of the screen it was hard to make out how badly hurt Obi-Wan was, but Qui-Gon noted a severe gash on the boy's head and it seemed he hadn't gotten off easy from the initial explosion that had damaged the ship so severely. His clothes were scorched and had a few holes where blood was clearly visible. No fractures were initially visible though. But the head injury combined with unconscious state of his padawan was worrying to say the least.

He needed to get them out of here, before Obi-Wan was lost to him for real this time.

/I'll save you, Obi-Wan. Hold on, Padawan// 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and please leave a comment to let me know what you think of it so far.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan is running out of time and Qui-Gon is running out of options.

/Do you remember that day, padawan?/ Qui-Gon waited a few seconds but no response came. /Answer me, Obi-Wan. Now!/

Pain and a heaviness filtered through the training bond followed by a slow response. //Y..yes. I re_remember.//

/Stay awake, Obi-Wan. You must or you might never wake up. Talk to me, padawan./

It took several moments, long moments in Qui-Gon's opinion, for Obi-Wan to respond. //I know. I'm....trying,...master.//

It had been hours ago that Qui-Gon awoke in a dying ship. He'd managed to wake his padawan up an hour ago and never had he been happier to hear that voice in his head.

But all that time and unknown amount of time they spent unconscious were catching up to them fast, especially Obi-Wan who was stuck in a sealed room that had leaked a lot of oxygen before the force fields kicked in. Even with one person in a large space, eventually the oxygen would run out and Obi-Wan would die. Already his padawan was struggling to stay awake and losing his coherent thoughts. One moment he was responsive, enough, the next he was wondering why the Jedi Temple was deserted or on fire or why no one at the Temple noticed his presence. His delusions kept changing and pulling him further from consciousness.

If Obi-Wan fell asleep, Qui-Gon feared he would never wake up, but trying to keep him lucid and talking was not only growing more difficult, but it was regrettably also distracting Qui-Gon from finding a solution. He couldn't fix the ship, even if he had all the skills to do so, but he couldn't meditate to try and find a different solution because he needed to keep Obi-Wan awake.

Obi-Wan was his padawan, his student. He was responsible for him. He couldn't abandon him to his fate. And yet, there was nothing else he could do.

* * *

Qui-Gon watched his padawan twitch and shake occasionally on the camera feed. His meditation had granted him a potential solution if the damn system would cooperate, but it had cost him Obi-Wan. His padawan had lost his struggle to stay awake and was now on his quite literal last and dying breaths. Another spark had Qui-Gon quickly retract his hands and he cursed loudly as he flung the wrench at the bulkhead in his frustration. So much for being the perfect, calm Jedi Master.

Taking deep breaths, Qui-Gon settled his frustration and fear and retrieved the wrench. He needed to get this beacon online so they could sent out a distress signal. Surely they were being missed already as they were hours late already, but with nothing to indicate where they were, rescue was damn near impossible. "Obi-Wan is so much better at this than I am." If only he could somehow get to his padawan, or give him more air. But what little of the ship remained was barely enough to sustain the cockpit. Obi-Wan had to work with what little oxygen was left and it was dwindling fast.

_"Wow that was amazing! Can you teach me how to do that?"_

_"In time, perhaps. But first you need to learn control and calm. If you are too excited you cannot hear the Force when you need to. Release your emotions and find your center. All in good time, Padawan."_

The memories came more frequently the last hour or so. Some were his own but most of them came from Obi-Wan, trickling through the training bond. He didn't have the heart to shield the bond, not when his padawan was so near death. As distracting as the sudden memories were, he would not take away what little comfort he could offer his unconscious padawan. He was already trapped alone physically, he wouldn't let him be alone mentally as well.

* * *

Obi-Wan looked around him at the many Jedi passing him in the corridor. He was in the Jedi Temple, yet something felt strange. He couldn't figure out what though. The Force urged him forward and so he did. As he walked down the corridor the Jedi around him became difficult to see as if they were moving too fast. They moved faster and faster until they were indistinct shapes rushing passed him. Obi-Wan stopped moving but the shapes did not. They started to circle him like a cyclone until he couldn't breath anymore.

"STOP!"

Obi-Wan dropped onto his hands and knees and abruptly the storm around him ceased and vanished. Obi-Wan looked up and was immediately grabbed by his tunic and hauled roughly onto his feet. He found himself staring at a pirate who pulled a knife and placed it right before his eye. Someone was shouting something behind the pirate but he couldn't hear him. The knife was pulled back and came swinging abruptly back towards his face but before it could hit, Obi-Wan felt the ground beneath his feet disappear and he dropped down, the pirate no longer there.

He landed on both his feet somehow unharmed and only a little winded from the abrupt fall. His surroundings were pitch-black and as he felt around him he could find no wall or object. "Hello?" Light blinded him and as he blinked away the spots dancing before his eyes he found himself in the council chambers, surrounded by every council member. Obi-Wan turned around frantically trying to find his master, but he was standing alone before the council. Did this mean his master hadn't made it? Or had they not yet found him? Did they not know where he was?

"Please, you have to help him! The ship is falling apart! We're running out of oxygen! Please you have to find Master Qui-Gon!"

All the masters just stared at him with blank faces as if they didn't hear him. As if they were ignoring him. "What's going on? Why aren't you doing anything?!"

"Masters."

Obi-Wan whirled around at the familiar voice of Master Rhara, his best friend Garen's master. As they stepped forward Obi-Wan could only stare at his friend. Garen looked down the whole way, his eyes were bloodshot and his skin looked dull. If he didn't know any better, he'd think his friend was ill. But Obi-Wan had a sinking feeling as he watched them step beside him. Neither of them acknowledged his presence.

"Did you find anything?"

"No. there was nothing left after the last explosion, only debris. And these."

All the masters sat forward to get a better look at what Master Rhara was holding. Obi-Wan stepped around Garen to see for himself and that sinking feeling became more prominent. In Master Rhara's hands were two lightsabers. Qui-Gon's and his own.

Someone suddenly grabbed him from behind and whirled him around. The bloodied and scorched face of his own master stared right at him. "Listen!"

Obi-Wan screamed as the world blurred into motion around him and suddenly he started awake in his real body on the ground of the cargo hold and very much alone.

* * *

A scream tore through the training bond startling Qui-Gon badly enough that he cut his hand on the panel he was working insde of. The jedi master scrambled to his feet to reach the viewscreen while calling out to his padawan through their connection.  
  
/Obi-Wan! Obi-Wan! Answer me, padawan!/  
  
There was no response to his calls only a rush of fear and horror clogging up the bond. Something had seriously spooked his padawan.  
  
The screen was in terrible condition but Qui-Gon could make out his padawan's form. He was moving erratically on the floor, his fingers reaching and scratching as if looking for some handhold. To his surprise Qui-Gon noted when Obi-Wan turned in his direction that the boy was awake. "Obi-Wan." He breathed.  
  
His relief was shortlived though when he realised the problem this posed. Obi-Wan was in deep distress, emotional distress, and it was making him gasp desperately for air. Air that wasn't available in that room right now.  
  
He was suffocating.  
  
/Obi-Wan! You must calm down, padawan!/ Qui-Gon tried to get through to his student, but the panic was thick and blocking out everything else. /Obi-Wan, can you hear me?! You must calm down. You can breath but only barely. The calmer you become the easier it will be./  
  
It was like talking to a wall. Obi-Wan was awake but unable to hear him. His panic caused by whatever he saw in his unconscious state combined with the panic he now suffered from the lack of air, was blocking out everything else and Qui-Gon himself was exhausted and injured. He didn't have the strength to try and break through all that heavy emotion. Not to mention Obi-Wan was unknowingly blocking his end of the bond, partially, making ti that much harder to reach him.  
  
Qui-Gon didn't have any other choice. Time was running out fast. He had to act now. Qui-Gon opened himself up to the Force fully, allowed it to fill him and concentrated hard on the training bond and Obi-Wan. The only way to save him now was to put him in a deep trance, a healing trance. It would slow down all his vitals, enought hat the lack of air would not cause any distress and would make sure he would survive for a time longer. Unfortunately putting anyone in this trance was no easy feat, especially without physical contact. It would drain what little energy Qui-Gon had left.  
  
But for Obi-Wan's survival, he had to. Obi-Wan was his responsibility and he would not let him die.  
  
Relief filled him when he felt the panic subside and his padawan's mind slow down. The training bond went almost completely silent and cold as Obi-Wan sunk into a deep trance-like state. His heart slowed down that to an outsider he would appear dead.  
  
That done, Qui-Gon abruptly fell down in one of the seats, breathing heavily. Already his eyelids were trying to close, but he wasn't done yet. He forced himself back on his feet and returned to the distress beacon he'd been working on. A few more tweaks and he finally done.  
  
As the signal started broadcasting, Qui-Gon took one more look at is padawan through the viewscreen before he allowed his fatigue to take over and he fell into a deep and much needed sleep.  
  
All they could do now was hope someone would find them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked it, please comment. It would mean a lot to me and I like to know what was liked and what wasn't.
> 
> For anyone disappointed that the scene of Obi-Wan waking up isn't in there, that I just skipped to him already awake, I'm sorry. I intended to write that scene but it wouldn't let me so to avoid getting stuck as I tend to do when I focus on parts I can't get right, I opted to leave that scene out. I'd rather keep this flow going and jump certain bits than to get stuck and lose interest again. I hope you can understand.


End file.
